At the time of the Bible's authorship, the notion of "other planets" would not have made sense - even the true nature of this planet was barely understood. I'm not sure that the question can really make sense in a Biblical context. Just my opinion.
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Marc Gravell♦Sep 1 '11 at 8:50

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@Marc Gravell: A fair point, however, I would submit that a) the Bible has provided wisdom on topics that were not understood at the time, b) the Bible might make a claim that would exclude the possibility of ET life without knowing about it or explicitly mentioning it.
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FlimzySep 1 '11 at 9:28

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good point, a statement in the negative would be a good answer to the question; any speculation on Biblical text to the positive would be more subjective / interpretive, I suspect
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Marc Gravell♦Sep 1 '11 at 9:39

@user additionally, you might want to look at the thinkings of the "flat earth society". I won't remark on their views, but they, of anyone, have done the most Biblical study on the topic.
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Marc Gravell♦Sep 1 '11 at 18:23

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@Marc: Flat earth theory? Really? You do know that that has nothing whatsoever to do with Christianity or Biblical beliefs, don't you? The belief doesn't appear anywhere in the historical record until the 19th century, where it was created out of whole cloth by a writer and applied retroactively to a work of historical fiction with the purpose of slandering Christians.
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Mason Wheeler♦Sep 2 '11 at 18:05

7 Answers
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The Bible really doesn't have anything to say on the subject one way or another.

Historical writings suggest that some of early Christians believed that this world is only one of many that God has created, and particularly among Gnostic sects there were all sorts of interesting ideas on the subject, (for example, that the many worlds that God had created all had free interactions with each other, but not with us because this world was under quarantine, as no other people out of all God's creations were evil enough to murder their own Lord), but whatever the source of these ideas is, it's not found in the Bible.

@Flimzy: It's been quite a while since I read about that. I'll see if I can find the source again...
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Mason Wheeler♦Aug 30 '11 at 5:25

So according to the Gnostics, did (1) Christ die multiple times (one for each planet), or (2) somehow they did not sin and thus did not need redemption, or (3) God decided to not save those other planets? :-)
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unregistered-matthew7.7Dec 29 '12 at 14:51

Revelation 12:9 (KJV)9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

My understanding is that such passages have led to a popular belief that every star (especially the "morning star" and similar stars later redefined as "planets") has an associated angel, much like Matthew 18:10 leads to the popular belief that every child has a guardian angel.

This is actually a great and relevant answer, but I think it could be improved by noting that what official position these ideas have in relation to major Christian traditions. In other words, are these folk religion ideas, are they official in any specific sects or do they have a place in orthodox Christianity?
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Caleb♦Oct 1 '12 at 7:05

Some argue that John 10:16 and first chapter of Ezekiel suggest life outside our planet and even possible visitation.

Others would argue that the omission of life being created on other planets in the creation story of Genesis proves we're the only planet with sentient life.

But why write about something that doesn't pertain to our personal walk with Christ? Telling us how others live for Him and worship Him on other planets would probably be something we couldn't comprehend. "For now we see through a glass darkly" (1 Cor 13:12)

But God wants to be worshiped (Deut 6:1-5). If this is the case, is it really far-fetched to think He would use the vast universe He created to hold a host of worlds that should worship Him?

Our limited minds have a hard time wrapping around the idea that there could be life on other planets that God also attends to. Many believe that since all the universe lives in sin (Rom 8:18-25) it suggests that Jesus would have to die repeatedly for each planet where sentient life exists. But the Bible states that "whosoever believes in him should not perish" (John 3:16) and that "by grace are ye saved through faith." (Eph 2:8)

Is it that hard to believe that God could decide to show another world His grace in a different way? Perhaps the sacrifice of life doesn't hold the same impact to them.
I'm quite certain that God knows better than us what would get the message of His love and desire that none should perish across to others better than our limited minds would ever be able to fathom.

Or perhaps those other worlds still practice animal sacrifice as it was before the death of Christ. Perhaps those other worlds will experience a different thing to take them from animal sacrifice to salvation through faith and grace without that sacrifice.

Yes, the last part is just a guess ... an opinion. But it is not our place to say what method God can or cannot use to bring people to Him. It is foolish of us to limit Him. Ecclesiastes 8:17 states "Then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it."

If we can't comprehend what goes on here on our own planet, how can we possibly hope to comprehend what God is doing with the rest of His universe? I am sure the debate could go on indefinitely as to whether or not life exists on other planets. And while it's perhaps fun to debate such things, it definitely should not be our focus. "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" (Phil 3:14).

The Bible makes no obvious reference to aliens, and most people (including myself) think it makes no reference at all to aliens.

I think it is unlikely that God created life outside Earth for two reasons:

Scientific: because of the Fermi paradox which says essentially that if there is extra terrestrial life we should have seen evidence of it by now.

Theological: because Jesus died once only (Hebrews 10:10). So if there are aliens, would they need redemption? Apparently the answer is "Yes", if they have freewill. However, since Jesus has already died here on Earth, He couldn't die again for them. Therefore aliens with freewill cannot exist (though animal life might).

The Fermi paradox is a bit more subtle than "we should have seen evidence of it by now", and is a topic of active research (indeed, as a race we have been capable of such for only a tiny fragment of time). It would seem questionable to suggest this as overly strong evidence in either direction. Or at best, it only makes sense to do so when the audience is well-versed in the science and able to make a professionally-based reasoning of it (i.e. in discussion with astrophysicists)
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Marc Gravell♦Sep 2 '11 at 18:48

For once I agree with Marc here. If I understand correctly, it was only a few months ago that we detected the first potential evidence of the existence of another planet sufficiently Earth-like to be capable of supporting life as we know it. And that's very, very far away, and the scientists aren't sure yet if it's a real Earth-like planet or not.
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Mason Wheeler♦Sep 29 '11 at 17:44

Don't animals have free will?
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user729Sep 29 '11 at 18:19

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I disagree with this. Deuteronomy 14:21 (KJV) specifically mentions that the Israelites may sell meat to aliens ;) (maybe this was to protect them from their mis-interpretting the alien book: "To Serve Man").
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StevenSep 30 '11 at 15:55

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@user729 anamals may have free will in a sense, however they are not free moral agents. They are incapable of making a moral decision (ie, killing another animal would not be considered murder).
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aceintheholeDec 10 '11 at 3:59

He highlights the idea that perhaps were the one fallen planet of many:
“What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?” (Luke 15:4).

I wanted to respond to Wikis comments as well:
--------"I think it is unlikely that God created life outside Earth for two reasons:
- Scientific: because of the Fermi paradox which says essentially that if there is extra terrestrial life we should have seen evidence of it by now.
- Theological: because Jesus died once only (Hebrews 10:10). So if there are aliens, would they need redemption? Apparently the answer is "Yes", if they have freewill. However, since Jesus has already died here on Earth, He couldn't die again for them. Therefore aliens with freewill cannot exist (though animal life might)."-------------

Scientific - The universe is vast - in our Milky Way Galaxy there 1 million x 1 million star systems, then there are 1 million x 1 million galaxies - we're talking near infinite numbers, and with the speed of light we are seeing 'evidence' from millions of years ago (if a star is 1 million light years away we're seeing light from it 1 million years old, so considering the massive scale of the universe we're only seeing 'recent' events from stars nearby that are say 50 years old (50 light years away). Basically if anyone exists right now but they're on the other side of the galaxy, it's impossible to see what's happening let alone another Galaxy right now, and they can't see us either (if they exist). Even if you could see evidence of galactic scale engineering, if they're building it now and they're 100 light years away (a relative neighbour) or 1 million light years away, we won't see that evidence for another 100 or 1 million years respectively. Of course for them to travel here, means a colossal expenditure of resources and time (unless they've invented the Warp Drive). But they'd have to know we were here in the first place...if somehow they did find out about us, then it's still doubtful it would be worth the trip. So I kind of agree with Paster Doug that perhaps there's a galactic restriction around us, or God may well have placed us so far away from any other life that the sheer impracticalities of travel and discovering each other places nearly insurmountable barriers between us all so no 'mystical' barrier is needed.

Theological - we are taught in the Bible that each of us is special, as pastor Doug points out perhaps he's come after the lost people. There's nothing to say each and every race isn't special. It's quite possible Jesus died only once for each of us, or that they didn't need redemption because by one method or another they don't have free will (though it may not feel like that to them). Working on a lot of science fiction projects it's easy to imagine many worlds where this could be the norm. A society of machines with the rules hardcoded in not to break them, yet still with the apparent 'free will' to worship God and his creation. Let's try not to go around in circles though. In Jesus's teaching we learn that he has died for us, you, me - personally for us, so I feel in a sense that on a galatic scale he too could have singled out our world as a sacrifice, perhaps as a demonstration to the rest of the universe (if they know) of his all powerful love. Imagine billions of worlds full of life (and not necessarily intelligent, there could be millions with just unintelligent creatures) perhaps trillions of worlds of life, billions of trillions of living souls, how great his love for us then, how great his sacrifice to save this one sheep amongst the enormous flock in the heavens.

So to imagine just our world, just our few billion people, seems to diminish God's power in the universe and just increase my sense of self worth, when I would rather imagine a God who is unlimited in his creation.

And finally, am I the only Christian who would grin stupidly if the first friendly aliens we met turned out to have red skin, horns and a tail? And were ever so holy! :-) I'd love God to turn our terrible preconceptions on their heads!

Welcome to C.Se. When you get the chance, please check out our tour and specifically How we are different than other sites. This is a good start. It's very chatty and "forum-like," almost to the point of not answering the question (ahem), but by linking to a sermon and trying to brinng it back to theology, I can definitely see that you are trying! In the future, I'd suggest a little more heft in the sources you use, and better explanation of what denomination "Pastor Doug" would speak for. All in all, it's ok
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Affable GeekSep 24 '13 at 18:40